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13 Dec 06 - 07:39 AM (#1908286) Subject: Help: origins "Down Below" From: Splott Man This one is niggling us at work. One of my colleagues keeps singing one line... "Down Below" and we can't think where it's from. It's the refrain of a song in the same structure as Sam Hall, Aikendrum and Captain Kidd, or even Les Barker's Van Gogh. One suggestion is that it's from a stage show. Any ideas anyone? |
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13 Dec 06 - 07:45 AM (#1908289) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: Scrump Did Les Barker write "Van Gogh" - is this the same one Vin Garbutt used to sing? I thought it was one of Vin's. |
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13 Dec 06 - 08:16 AM (#1908308) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: GUEST,meself "There's a Fire Down Below"? It's a shanty; I only know the title, but without question there are plenty of 'Catters who would be familiar with it. |
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13 Dec 06 - 08:17 AM (#1908309) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: GUEST,redhorse at work I assume you mean the song about working down the sewers of London. Don't know who wrote it: I think it might have been Sidney Carter. Ian Wallace recorded it nick |
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13 Dec 06 - 08:21 AM (#1908313) Subject: Lyr Add: DOWN BELOW (Sydney Carter) From: jacqui.c There are two songs with that title that I know of. One is the Stanley Holloway version - written by Sidney Carter. DOWN BELOW^^ (Sydney Carter) When you're working in the dark... Down below, Underneath St James's park ... Down below, When you're working in the dark, oh it isn't half a lark, When you're working in the dark... Down below, It isn't hard to tell... Down Below, If it's Bow or Clerkenwell... Down below For Bow and Clerkenwell have a different sort of smell, And we know them very well... Down below, Over Covent garden way,... Down Below, In the merry month of May,... Down below, The fragrance of the flowers gives us many happy hours, And we sing a roundelay,... Down below, The objects that we find... Down below, Help to entertain the mind,... Down Below There are watches that won't wind, wrapped up in bacon rind, And that isn't all you find,... Down below, When you're under floral street,... Down Below, With the water round your feet,... Down below Mid the cabbages and beet you may find a marguerite, And the thought is very sweet, ... Down Below Hatton Garden is a spot,...Down Below, That we like to go a lot,... Down below, Since a bloke in Leather lane, dropped a diamond down a drain, We've been waiting... But in vain,... Down below, When to billingsgate we come,... Down below, When to billingsgate we come,... Down below, When to billingsgate we come, You can tell it by the hum, And we wish we hadn't come,... Down below, There is something in a sewer,... Down below That has a strange allure,...Down below, The magic of the drain is a thing you can't explain, But it's calling us again,... Down below. The other is one that Bat Goddess sings - part of the lyric is It's the only place I find I can get some peace of mind, I'm glad I'm working down below. |
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13 Dec 06 - 08:39 AM (#1908338) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: GUEST,Observer Sidney Carter certainly did write a song named Dahn Below. Can't remember the whole song but some of it is Oh it is'nt hard to tell Dahn below If it's Bow or Clerkenwell Dahn below Oh it is'nt hard to tell for it's a very different smell.....(lyrics missing) Dahn below Or something like that!? If this is the song you were after I'm sure if you were to contact Mike Sparks(www.mikesparks.co.uk) he would help you with the lyrics. (Mike apparently has contact with the family and copyright holders) Ob |
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13 Dec 06 - 08:41 AM (#1908342) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: GUEST,Observer Look at that cross posting but Jacqui c did much better than me. well done Jacqui Ob |
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13 Dec 06 - 08:43 AM (#1908344) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: clueless don There is also "The Pound-a-Week Rise" (I think that's the title), with a chorus that goes something like And it's down below, down you go, where you never see the skies, and you're working in a dungeon for a pound-a-week rise! I know Dick Gaughan recorded it, probably many others. Don |
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13 Dec 06 - 08:45 AM (#1908346) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: Susan of DT If you search for down below in the Digital Tradition, you get a long list of songs, including two versions of the chantey Fire Down Below, but not the sewer song, which surprised me. |
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13 Dec 06 - 09:52 AM (#1908398) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: gnomad I think I picked the sewer song up from the DT, but I believe that the executors of Sydney Carter's estate required all his lyrics to be removed. Or did I just dream that? |
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13 Dec 06 - 11:19 AM (#1908456) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: Schantieman I've heard that too. S |
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13 Dec 06 - 01:16 PM (#1908542) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: Bat Goddess There's another "Down Below" sewer song as well. I got it from Evan Leonard. Chorus: "Down below, oh down below, Oh it's dark but it's home to me you know. It's the only place I find, I can get some peace of mind. I'm glad I'm working down below." Linn |
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13 Dec 06 - 03:05 PM (#1908636) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: GUEST Down Below - song of the sewermen composed by Michael Flanders and Donald Swann Jim Carroll |
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14 Dec 06 - 04:00 AM (#1909147) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: Splott Man Thanks everyone. It's the Sydney Carter one. Your input has led me to other places where I've found plenty of info. Performed variously by Stanley Holloway, Flanders & Swann, Ian Wallace and Rolf Harris among others. I love this place. Splott man |
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30 May 10 - 04:23 AM (#2917081) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: GUEST,Joe Yes the song Down Below was written by Sydney Carter and published in "The Songs of Sydney Carter: In the present tense Book 2" 1969, Galliard Limited Ian Wallace recorded it and I have an EP of this song, together with The Gay Gondolier, The Income Tax Collector, & Transport of Delight |
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06 Aug 10 - 05:04 AM (#2959310) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: GUEST I remember this song which was a reasonable regular in a programme called "Children's Favourities". Every Saturday morning the Light Programme as it was called, which became Radio 2 in September 1967, would play this song if it had been requested by children. The programme only consisted of the same set of songs which even for a young child became a rather boring programme because every week the programme would end with either 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' or with 'Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture' - these two were alternated each week. Other boring music included 'The Sabre Dance' and 'I am a Troll". Remember the character who run the show, an early form of child's DJ called "Uncle Mac"? However, the song 'Down Below' never became boring and one could open the song up time and time again by making up ones own lyrics. The true magic of childhood. |
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22 May 20 - 05:06 PM (#4054448) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: Joe Offer I found a recording by Ian Wallace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHbGjA_RXaY And another: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAcKCTXdduQ |
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23 May 20 - 04:12 AM (#4054507) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: Steve Gardham Got the original sheet music if it's of use. If I remember correctly its title is 'Dahn Below' so searching under 'down' wouldn't be much use if that's the case. |
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23 May 20 - 05:34 AM (#4054529) Subject: RE: Origins: Down Below From: GUEST,Jerry The Sidney Carter one is also included in the EFDSS songbook titled ‘Festival Folk’ (published in the 1970s), and his ‘Down Below’ is copyrighted to Chappell and Co Ltd 1958. |